


Adolescence

by Legume_Shadow



Series: Whispers (Prequels to the Echoes Series) [3]
Category: Peacemaker Kurogane, Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-19 01:26:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2369336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legume_Shadow/pseuds/Legume_Shadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young genius swordsman comes-of-age and contemplates the future.  Another prodigy practices, oblivious to the machinations of men below the mountain.  A teacher tries his best to hold back the coming tide of revolution.  Growing up in this world is difficult, but the incoming storm will shape the swordsmen to come.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adolescence

**Author's Note:**

> First Published: AO3, September 2014. All copyrights apply to the appropriate parties and no profit is being made from this fanwork.

**Part 3: Adolescence**

_Late Spring 1859_

 

Leaves as green as dark jade swirled around the air as a gust of wind blew though; the remnants of a windstorm that had swept Edo and her surrounding cities only a day ago. Dressed in comfortable clothes that did not scream ostentatious or wealth, but rather blended in with others dressed in a similar fashion, Soujirou made his way through the area. It had been almost five years since he had stepped in this area of Edo and found that little had change. He had wanted to return to this section of Edo after the coming-of-age ceremony, but his family had other plans, and thus, it was only because he was about to return to the dojo that he now had time.

With his newly commissioned daisho sitting at the side of his waist (it had been a coming-of-age present from his brother-in-law), he strolled through the streets, taking in the life and reminisced about the past. The familiar-looking tree next to the irrigation canal was still there, but it looked like the windstorm had not been kind towards it. Passing by it, he continued onwards, crossing the bridge, for he would not stop today and wait for friends that most likely would not show up. His days of running freely around Edo were gone, replaced by a sense of responsibility, especially since his brother-in-law allowed him to continue to study at the dojo. In return for the continued permission to engage in his studies, Rintarou had kindly asked that he, Soujirou, occasionally returned home to visit.

That sense of responsibility had also been borne out of the rumors of unrest and clamoring that seemingly gripped the southern domains. His coming-of-age ceremony was the first time in five years that he had seen his brother-in-law and sister, and it seemed as if a lifetime had passed by the two. Rintarou had not spoken much about the family's status, but Soujirou had gotten a sense that his brother-in-law was struggling with not only the politics that governed them in Edo, but also back home in ancestral lands that he had never seen before.

To get caught up now in family matters meant that he would no longer be able to study at Kondou's school. Therefore, Soujirou was careful not to commit to anything other than to promise his brother-in-law and sister that he would occasionally visit. Today, however, he would not go visit his family, but would be taking one last look around, to say goodbye to a fun-filled childhood before committing fully into his studies of Tennen Rishin Ryu.

He knew that he was close to mastering all forms of the sword style, and before he decided what to do for the rest of his life, he at least wanted to receive the license for the style. Perhaps when he finally receive the license, if things were still not settled down in the south and west, he would ask to go down there to help quell the unrest.

It was the terrified sounds of children shouting that snapped him out of his thoughts as he found himself wandering in a familiarly dangerous area of Edo. There was not soul in sight as he looked around, and only the hollow wind, blowing through the streets echoed around him. The shouts came again, and this time, he reacted, racing towards the cries for help.

He skidded to a halt, hands flying to his sword as his right hand wrapped around pommel of the blade, with his left thumb poised over the guard, ready to draw, but did not. His eyes had narrowed in anger as an inexplicable amount of rage seemed to well up from within him as he saw the scene before him. Five burly-looking thugs, dressed in rag-torn clothes, were menacing and cornering several young street urchins. The urchins, though afraid, were shouting at one of the thugs to stop hurting their 'big sister'.

“Hey!” he yelled, catching the attention of the thugs, who stopped their harassment of the children and turned to face him. If his anger could get any greater, it did, for the 'big sister' that the children were crying for was a woman who looked like she had been severely beaten. However, now that he had the thugs' attention, he wasn't sure what else to say except for, “Leave them alone!”

“Who the devil are you?”

Soujirou froze, unsure as to whether or not he should state who he was – it was proper after all, but if he stated his name and did not stop the thugs, would they come after him or his family? He had his own family to protect, but he could not stand here and allow the thugs to continue harassing the children and the woman. But then what was the point of him learning kenjutsu – if not to defend the weak, then what? Clearly the thugs of this area had not learned their lesson six years ago when Hijikata had happened on by.

That moment of hesitation passed by as he swallowed and said, “Okita Souji.”

In that moment of hesitation, thousands of thoughts crossed his mind, but the most prominent one of those was the fact that he was no longer a boy – he had chosen to deliberately jump into this, not stumble in by accident. 'Soujirou' was too soft and too childish to be used anymore. He needed a new name to go with who he was and hoped to become.

“Gut the scrawny kid, brother,” one of the thugs spat out. “He's just a wannabe samurai.”

The first of the thugs merely smirked at him before giving an almighty roar and charged. Souji swiftly drew his blade out, matching that roar with a ferocious one of his own, causing the other thugs to stop for a brief moment. Flipping the blade so that the flat side slammed into the thug's stomach, he made short work of the other thugs who stood no chance against him.

In less than a minute, it was all over, with the thugs clutching various areas on their bodies where the flat of Souji's blade had smacked them. They were still conscious, but hesitating to move, trying to dull the pain in their bodies. “Go, children,” Souji said, gesturing for the frightened and somewhat awe-struck urchins to move. A few of them helped the woman up, and as quickly as they could, the children carried her away.

As soon as he could no longer hear the pitter-patter of footsteps, he returned his attention to the thugs, who had recovered somewhat and were now no longer in a taunting mood. He could feel the anger rolling off of them in waves, but he was not scared by it. In response to their aggression, he turned his blade back around, coldly saying, “Those children should never see blood spilt like I have. Prepare yourselves.”

Despite the injuries that he had already inflicted upon the thugs, they charged, but he knew that they had no chance. The first of the thugs received a direct thrust to his chest, felling him, before Souji yanked the blade out and whirled around to his right; the tip of his blade slicing across the neck of another thug. Pivoting left, he brought his sword up high and struck down, gutting another thug before angling his blade for an upwards strike at the fourth one. The fifth and final thug had merely gotten a short blade out before looking up and saw all of his comrades dead on the ground.

Souji was two steps away from the lone thug, when the thug dropped his short blade, stuttering with fear. Calmly and without any fanfare, Souji closed the distance and sliced diagonally down from shoulder to gut. Blood and guts flew everywhere as the thug fell down onto the blood-soaked ground with a wet thump.

It was only after the silence had settled into the area that he found himself breathing a bit heavily. However, the rush of adrenaline, the fear he thought that would come from killing someone, did not appear. Instead, he found himself flicking his wrist to wipe as much of the blood away as possible from his katana. It was the same as the first time he had killed that stranger who had been threatening his sister – he did not feel ill, nauseous, or panicky. Instead, he felt fine. Though doubts lingered in his mind as to whether or not he should be feeling this way, he dashed it as thoroughly as possible – to voice those thoughts, especially to Hijikata would just cause more headaches.

“My name is Okita Souji,” he whispered, staring up and into the clear blue sky, “and I am fifteen years old.”

* * *

_A week later..._

 

Raucous laughter from the men filled the air, mingling in with the more demure and light laughter of the beautiful women that surrounded them. The atmosphere was one of celebration, but not because of victory in battles, which have not started yet, or in celebration of someone's marriage, but of a boy becoming a man.

The celebration had been secretly planned for the few days that Souji had been away from the dojo, attending the actual ritual and ceremony for his coming-of-age. Thanks to the meticulous planning of of Toudou Heisuke, Nagakura Shinpachi, and Harada Sanosuke, also known to all of those at the dojo as “The Trio”, tonight was the night of all nights. There was not a dry cup in the house, and even the normally stern and serious Hijikata was smiling...well, smirking.

“All right guys, I want to hear a cheer for our guest of honor for not being a baby anymore!” Those around the room half-drunkenly complied with Nagakura's request, though laughter accompanied the attempt at cheering in unison before they each drank a cup of sake.

Souji managed to put his cup down onto the tray before the hearty slap of Harada pounded into his back. The liquid was still burning its way down his throat, but it felt good. As the pretty attendant girl that was sitting in between him and Hijikata filled his cup again with more alcohol, he contemplated that he could, perhaps, drink another few cups before he needed to slow down.

However, now was a good time as any to make his announcement to his friends. “Friends,” he said, though he had to half-shout it to be heard over the laughter.

“Hey, hey,” Nagakura said, smacking Toudou on the head to quiet him down, “Okita wants to make a speech, so shut up man...”

As soon as it quieted down enough, Souji said, “I wanted to let all of you know that I decided to change my given name. 'Souji' is the name that I would like to be addressed as in the future. The kanji to write 'sou' is the same one for 'overall' and for 'ji', it is written the same as 'in charge'. This is because from now on, I am in charge of my own life and decisions.”

“A good, strong name, Souji,” Kondou was the first of those gathered to say. “A good, strong name.”

“Indeed it is,” Yamanami agreed.

“To new names and to the future, whatever it may hold!” Nagakura said as Souji caught Hijikata's silent nod of affirmation before he too raised his cup of sake. Souji followed suit, a happy smile on his face – killing those men who had been harassing those children and that woman was the right choice. If his path in life was to be bloodied, then it would be bloody. It was his to decide now.

“Kampai!”

* * *

_Meanwhile...in the deep forests of Arashiyama..._

 

_Thwack!_

Kenshin dropped the branch he had been practicing with as the pain from popped blisters became too unbearable for him to hold onto the branch any longer. Tearing his eyes away from the blood running down his hands, along with the puss-like ooze of pale, semi clear fluid from the blisters on the pads of his hands, he wandered over to the small stream that ran by his master's house.

He winced in pain as he dunked his hands into the water and allowed the stream to carry away the blood. The coolness of the stream soothed not only the aches, but also slowly numbed the pain until he could not feel his hands anymore. It was then that he finally took his hands out of the stream and wiped them on his clothes.

He looked up to see that the flickering firelight from the indoor hearth, reflected out of the small window slit, was still going strong and that the door to his master's cabin was still closed. It meant that his master was still talking with his two guests and Kenshin could not enter just yet, not until his master said so. Thus, he was stuck out here indefinitely.

Giving a small sigh, for he was starting to get tired and wanted to sleep soon, he returned to where he had dropped the branch and picked it back up. He still had his ten thousand strikes to complete since it had been assigned to him only two days ago, and even though his katana was in the cabinet, swinging the branch at the tree counted towards the strikes...right? At least he hoped it would, but since his master was picky, he didn't put much hope in it. Still, the practice was good, even though his hands were getting ripped apart by not only the branch, but also the handle of the katana.

Raising the branch back up to the basic ready position, he stilled his mind and blocked out the sounds of the nighttime insects. Just as he stepped into the strike, he swung the branch.

_Thwack_!

~~~

Hiko Seijuurou, thirteenth master of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, closed his eyes briefly as he heard the faint sounds of a branch hitting the base of a tree over the sounds of a crackling fire in the hearth. A moment later, he opened his eyes and refocused his gaze towards the two people sitting before him. Had he been in a hospitable mood, he would have offered them tea, but he was not, and it was not due to how late at night the two strangers had come calling.

The two people before him; a young woman who looked as if she had just blossomed into womanhood, and her bodyguard, a grizzled old man with a keen look in his eyes, were unwelcomed visitors. It was for the sake of protecting his apprentice that he did not send the two away and instead, allowed the two to enter. Kenshin had been sent outside, for he did not want his apprentice to get mixed up in whatever was about to happen. Should the worst happen, at least his apprentice was already outside and would have a head start in running away.

“Are you or are you not?” the young woman demanded again.

“Not,” he curtly answered, folding his arms over his chest. “I give you my word. I am not. Your predecessor and I had already agreed to my actions and our agreement only goes so far. What I do with my life and who I decide to take on as an apprentice to pass my skills on is my own. That whelp of mine will have nothing to do with you or your organization. I swear it.”

“And should that apprentice of yours take an interest in the civil war that is about to erupt?”

“He will not,” he firmly stated. He would make sure that Kenshin would never get involved with the chaos that was happening west of here and was slowly spreading eastwards. However, he knew that even though his words to the young woman and her bodyguard were going to be taken as a binding agreement, it would be hard to keep Kenshin here. He could already see that the whelp was too pure...almost a simpleton and that was going to be dangerous if the chaos of the west engulfed the entire country.

“However,” he stated, unfolding his arms and deliberately placed a hand over the hilt of his katana. “Should my apprentice get it into his head to join the chaos down below, in return for my continued cooperation in not obliterating your organization, you and your people will never recruit him. If you do, your lives and those of your families are forfeit.”

“Does that include your own life, _brother_?” the young woman mocked, emphasizing the familial ties between them.

Hiko merely gave the two a mild glare, before saying, “How easily you have forgotten that I am no longer your big brother, Yuna. I am Hiko Seijuurou.”

“Only after you killed your master,” the young woman viciously said.

If the jab was supposed to hurt, it did not, for he had long buried the pain that had been associated with the killing of his master. It had been both for the inheritance of the title of master of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, and to grant his master's wish to nevermore be a pawn for the organization that he had been a part of. Shortly after inheriting the title, Hiko had gone on his rampage, eliminating as many assets to the organization as possible, determined to bring the organization down. However, after two years of constant killing, of tasting blood whenever he drank sake to keep the nightmares at bay, he and the organization had declared a truce.

One year after that truce, he had found Kenshin sitting among the graves that the boy had buried all on his own. And now, a year after that, two people he had hoped to never see again had appear at his door, determined to reaffirm that truce.

“How involved will you be in the coming storm?” he suddenly asked. Though he himself was content not to get involved with the chaos below the mountain, it was as he said before – Kenshin was too pure of a whelp and that in itself was dangerous. If the organization was going to be heavily involved, he would have to take some pretty drastic measures to keep Kenshin from learning about happenings below the mountain.

“If he comes down from the mountain, we will not touch your apprentice, as per the agreement,” the young woman said. “Had you have been still within our ranks, you would know.”

He snorted before saying, “The door is open. Please let yourselves out now.”

Wordlessly, the two guests stood up and a moment later, left, leaving the door open so that the sounds of the nighttime insects filtered through. Hiko closed his eyes once again and breathed deeply in, meditating to the sounds of his apprentice beating a branch against the tree. With luck, perhaps the chaos to the west would die down, and hopefully, the storm of civil war would dissipated before anything would come of it.

 

~*~*~*~

**Author's Note:**

> Short-short story!
> 
> If I'm reading Souji's name correctly from my copy of the manga series (I have it in both the original Japanese and in a translated format), his name really does mean “overall/generally in charge”. If that's correct, then that is a very strong name. If its not, I sincerely apologize for screwing up the translation meaning of his name. Also, Souji's statement before he ripped apart the thugs in defense of the poor and weak is a direct inverse of what he did in Peacemaker Kurogane when Tetsu jumped into the fray without a second thought to defend Saya. Eventually, Souji will learn discretion and finally become the man he is in Peacemaker Kurogane. The boy becomes a man and the man becomes a wolf of the Shinsengumi.
> 
> Just so you readers are not confused and thrown off course, Hiko Seijuurou's parts in this series will be small, but his association with this mysterious 'organization' is the main driver for all the shenanigans that will happen in 1863 at Kyoto...and eventually in the sequel to Remnants. You also might recognize part of the scene from the OAV/OVA where Kenshin's whacking a tree, while thinking of the women killed when he had been traveling with them as a slave.


End file.
